399 BC PhilosopherSocrates is sentenced to death by the city of Athens for corrupting the minds of the youth of the city and for impiety

1220 Khwarezmian city of Bukhara taken byGenghis Khan's Mongol army after a 12-day siege, with the death of about 30,000 of its citizens

1493Christopher Columbus writes the first account of his first voyage to the Americas in a letter to his patron Luis de Santángel, Treasurer of Aragon, who then publishes it[1]

1745Colley Cibber's play "Papal Tyranny in the Reign ofKing John" premieres in London

1775 Angelo Braschi chosen as PopePius VI

1830 Beginning of the famous debate between French naturalistsGeorges Cuvier and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire on animal structure

1869 Charges of Treason againstJefferson Davis are dropped

1900 Boer War: Siege of Kimberley broken by British troops under Lieutenant-GeneralJohn French after a 124 day siege. Kimberley defense led byCecil Rhodes.

1918 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania adopt the Gregorian calendar

1922Marconi begins regular broadcasting transmissions from Essex

1927 Silent film "It" is released in the US starringClara Bow

1932 As a member of the gold medal-winning US four-man bobsleigh team at Lake Placid,Eddie Eagan becomes the only Olympian to win gold medals at both the Summer (boxing gold in Antwerp 1920) and Winter Games in different sports

1932George Burns andGracie Allen debut as regulars on the "Guy Lombardo Show"

1932John Van Druten's play "There's Always Juliet" premieres in NYC

1933 President-electFranklin D. Roosevelt survives assassination in Miami, Florida, attempt but Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak is mortally wounded, he would die on March 29

1936Adolf Hitler announces construction of the Volkswagen Beetle (the People's Car, aka the Käfer/Beetle)

1936Sonja Henie of Norway becomes the most successful Olympic figure skater ever by winning her 3rd consecutive gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games; beats Cecilia College of Great Britain by 6.4 points

1939Lillian Hellman's play "The Little Foxes" premieres in New York City

1941Duke Ellington and his Orchestra first record "Take the 'A' Train" written by Billy Strayhorn, at RCA Studio in Hollywood, California; it goes on to become his signature tune

1941 Greek-American singerMaria Callas makes her professional opera debut as Beatrice, in Franz von Suppé's "Boccaccio" at the Olympia Theatre in Athens, Greece

1943 Wartime propaganda poster "We Can Do It!" produced by J. Howard Miller and posted on the walls of Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company's plants in the Midwest

1948Mao Zedong's communist army occupies Yenan

1950Walt Disney's animated film "Cinderella" premieres in Boston. Massachusetts

1952 KingGeorge VI is buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England

1959Antonio Segni forms Italian government

1963 First US female world figure skating champion (Tenley Albright)

1964Bill Bradley scores 51 points for Princeton

1965John Lennon passes his driving test

1968John Lennon and his wife Cynthia, andGeorge Harrison, his wife Pattie, and sister-in-law Jenny, travel to India to study Transcendental Meditation for two months withMaharishi Mahesh Yogi at his ashram in Rishikesh; Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr join them a few days later, Ringo only stays for 2 weeks

1970Ard Schenk becomes world champion all-round skater

1975Linda Ronstadt tops US singles chart with 'You're No Good', and the US album chart with Heart Like A Wheel

1976 18th Daytona 500:David Pearson makes contact withRichard Petty just yards from finish line into a wall and to infield; Petty stalls whilst Pearson restarts to win

1978 Escaped mass murdererTed Bundy recaptured, Pensacola, Florida

1978Leon Spinks beatsMuhammad Ali in 15 for heavyweight boxing title

1979 21st Grammy Awards:Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are"; soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever" featuring theBee Gees, and A Taste of Honey win

1979 Temple City Kazoo Orchestra appears on "TheMike Douglas Show"

1980 American speed skaterEric Heiden wins 500m in Olympic record 38.03s; first of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid, New York

1980 NHL OilersWayne Gretzky assists on NHL-record-tying 7 goals, in 8-2 victory over Washington at Northlands Coliseum, Edmonton

1985 World chess championship match abandoned withAnatoly Karpov 25 leadingGarry Kasparov 23

1986 National Assembly of the Philippines proclaimsFerdinand Marcos President for six more years after rigged elections againstCorazon Aquino, supercharging the EDSA people power revolution[1]

1987 1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler is disqualified fromAndy Williams Open for kneeling on a towel to make a shot

1987 29th Daytona 500:Bill Elliott leads for 104 of 200 laps including the last 3; had won pole with record speed of 210.364 mph

1989 Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan ends as the last Soviet troops cross the Soviet-Afghan border

1992Jeffrey Dahmer found sane and guilty of killing 15 boys

1996 American boxerTommy Morrison announces he has contracted HIV, a diagnosis he later claimed to be false

1996 NFL coaching maestroBill Belichick is fired by Cleveland, finishing his Browns coaching career with a record of 36-44

1996 Tamil romantic comedy film "Poove Unakkaga" is released, directed by Vikraman, and starring Sangita andVijay in his breakthrough role

1998 40th Daytona 500:Dale Earnhardt's only Daytona win in his 20th start; snaps a 59-race winless streak

1998 The Angel of the North, a large-scale steel sculpture 20 m (66 ft) tall by Antony Gormley is installed at Gateshead, northern England

1999 7th ESPY Awards:Mark McGwire, Chamique Holdsclaw win

2000Martin Brodeur becomes first goaltender in NHL history to get credit for a "game winning" goal as New Jersey wins, 4-2 over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers

2011 Libyan protests begin opposing ColonelMuammar al-Gaddafi's rule